The Dragon and the Maiden
by ninemuses
Summary: Shiho & Chunwoo - past, present & future - in 50 sentences.


**Notes:** Spoilers for _The Breaker_ and _The Breaker: New Waves_. Plus some future speculation. Written for the 1sentence community on LJ.

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><p><strong>01: Motion<br>**There is beauty in a punch, a kick, a throw - and Shiho saw nothing but poetry as she tracked the flawless lines of Chunwoo's body as he destroyed everything (and everyone) in his path.

**02: Cool  
><strong>Chunwoo knew Shiho was trouble the instant he laid eyes on her; it was if she was tailor-made to shatter his control, his calm, his cool facade.

**03: Young  
><strong>Shiho would be lying if she said she wasn't attracted to Chunwoo partially because of his strength and power - and why would that be a surprise since he was the youngest person granted the title of Nine Arts Dragon.

**04: Last  
><strong>Shiho desperately hoped he would survive this, that he would understand that this was ultimately her choice and that she accepted her fate with no regrets - especially now that the last thing she would see was his face, the last thing she tasted was his mouth, and the last breath she would draw was his.

**05: Wrong  
><strong>She was his type in every way: stunning face, great ass, amazing breasts and legs that went on forever - why did he have to meet her now under these circumstances?

**06: Gentle  
><strong>The Heavenly Maiden School specialized in poisons - from their hidden knives to their tempting kisses - but something in Chunwoo begged for the touch of Shiho's hand on his face.

**07: One  
><strong>Shiho would also be lying if she said the reason she pursued Chunwoo so shamelessly wasn't partially because he was determined not to succumb to her charms; it was a novel experience meeting a man who didn't want to grovel at her feet for a sign of her affection.

**08: Thousand  
><strong>Shiho had no qualms using her looks and charms to get what she wanted but she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that of all the men she'd ever met - both within the murim and without - Chunwoo was it for her.

**09: King  
><strong>In the end, though, Shiho didn't care that Chunwoo was the Nine Arts Dragon - true, his power had attracted her in the first place but it also caused so much trouble; sometimes she wondered what it would have been like if Chunwoo had never become the martial artist who defeated all the schools and became hunted.

**10: Learn  
><strong>Chunwoo always knew when Shiho was playing him, manipulating him to get what she wanted, but a sliver of doubt existed in his heart, that she might _actually_ be in trouble this time and what would happen if he didn't answer her plea for help, which only proved that he never learned.

**11: Blur  
><strong>The first glimpse Shiho had ever caught of Chunwoo, the man who would become the Nine Arts Dragon, was at the tournament that would earn his reputation and lead him onto the path of infamy - none of this she knew then or could even predict; all she knew was that his arms and legs moved so fast, they were like a blur and just like that, she'd lost her heart.

**12: Wait  
><strong>It is dark in that place between life and death - without sight, without sound, without touch; the part of her that remembers her life before hopes that Chunwoo waits for her to wake up but the other part, the part that consumes her now hopes he doesn't because she fears, she knows, that if she returns, she won't be like she was before.

**13: Change  
><strong>Chunwoo never believed in serious relationships; any woman permanently associated with the Nine Arts Dragon would only find herself in danger but Shiho made him think about the future.

**14: Command  
><strong>Chunwoo thought to send her away from him for her own safety, as if she'd ever accept being anywhere but at his side; he was such an idiot, thinking he could command her when Shiho had never listened to any man when his wishes went against her own desires.

**15: Hold  
><strong>There was nothing more in this world that Shiho wanted than to remain in the warm circle of Chunwoo's arms - except perhaps to taste his kiss.

**16: Need  
><strong>Shiho is a complication, an unwanted addition to his increasingly dangerous life just like the boy he'd taken on as a disciple, so why can't he actually let her go?

**17: Vision  
><strong>At night, after a long day of work and violence, when the others he'd collected around him, united in their mission to bring down the Martial Arts Alliance, had gone to bed, sometimes he saw her face when he closed his eyes.

**18: Attention  
><strong>Chunwoo never failed to make her laugh, the way he tried not to look and the way he'd deny the desire he felt when he looked upon her naked body, but it pleased her to have his attention, conflicted though it was.

**19: Soul  
><strong>It was the greatest irony - that a man with the soul of a dragon would find peace with a maiden who came from a world so determined to kill him.

**20: Picture  
><strong>Chunwoo has many regrets but the biggest is simple: he has no picture of her face.

**21: Fool  
><strong>When Chunwoo arrived at the apartment, breaking yet another date but not caring because all he could hear was Shiho's panicked voice before the line went dead, he found Shiho and Shi-woon laughing at some ridiculous late-night program on the television and knew he'd been had... again.

**22: Mad  
><strong>It galled him, this inability to stay angry at Shiho, half-driven mad by her games and antics, and yet Chunwoo knew he wouldn't have her any other way.

**23: Child  
><strong>As Chunwoo watched Shiho with Shi-woon, the gentle way she encouraged him and took care of him like some pinup magazine centerfold's rendition of an older sister, he couldn't help but wonder what her family life was like, what she'd been like as a little girl, if she'd wrapped all the boys around her little finger just as easily as she had him.

**24: Now  
><strong>After he lost Shiho, all Chunwoo had left were these things: cigarettes, alcohol, violence, blood, murder.

**25: Shadow  
><strong>Chunwoo's sleep is never 100% restful or deep but sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night from some half-remembered dream of her smile and laughter and thinks he sees a long fall of dark hair sweep around the corner, but when he gets up to check, his apartment is empty and Shiho isn't there.

**26: Goodbye  
><strong>It wasn't how he wanted their first kiss to be, to mark the time when he finally gave in to what they both wanted - it should have been the beginning of them, not the end.

**27: Hide  
><strong>Shiho has waited for this moment, since the second she opened her eyes and was reborn; at last it was time for her to come out of hiding and meet Chunwoo face to face and reveal to each other what they'd both become.

**28: Fortune  
><strong>Chunwoo never needed much; luxury meant nothing to him but for Shiho, he'd be willing to try and give her everything she ever wanted - strangely enough, though, all she ever seemed to want was him.

**29: Safe  
><strong>It would be safer for her if she weren't with him; the life of the Nine Arts Dragon would not be a long one even if he did succeed in his mission, but Shiho cared nothing for her own safety and damn him, he loved her all the more for it.

**30: Ghost  
><strong>Sometimes, perhaps fueled by too much alcohol, Chunwoo dreams of Shiho and they are anything but happy: she lies naked, sleeping in a glass coffin; he bends down to kiss her awake like something out of a story but her eyes open before he touches her lips and there is searing pain in his chest - he looks down to find she's stabbed him in the heart and as he collapses over her, bleeding out and dying, she whispers in his ear: "I can't wait for us to meet again."

**31: Book  
><strong>The hour was late and he'd only gotten up to get a drink of water but something kept him from crossing the hallway into the kitchen - maybe it was because he hadn't wanted to attract Shiho's attention, to hear her teasing laughter when he was too exhausted to match wits with her or maybe it was because he wanted to linger, watching the way her hair slipped free from its messy knot as she bent over the book, studying the words it contained with a faint frown on her face.

**32: Eye  
><strong>Chunwoo thought he was so clever, that she couldn't read him like the morning newspaper, but his heart - though he claimed otherwise - was open and revealed itself to anyone with a working pair of eyes.

**33: Never  
><strong>Shiho knew what they said about her: never trust her because she was a beautiful woman who broke men's hearts; if they only knew there was one man whose heart she would never break - ironically, he was also the same man who swore he'd never fall in love with her.

**34: Sing  
><strong>Shiho was so good at so many things, it never occurred to Chunwoo that she couldn't hold a note to save her life, which was why he snatched the microphone from her hand in order to spare them from any more torture.

**35: Sudden  
><strong>It happened so quickly - one minute Shiho was grievously wounded but breathing and the next, she was bleeding out on that dirty rooftop; there wasn't enough time - so many things left to do, so many things left to say...

**36: Stop  
><strong>It was disturbingly easy; of course it'd always been - men were such idiots, after all - but Shiho had come back stronger, faster, so much so that occasionally she wondered if something had been lost when she'd been resurrected - not that she could dwell on it too long; she had something to do, someone to find, and nothing would get in her way until she faced Chunwoo once again.

**37: Time  
><strong>How long she spent in that place between life and death, Shiho couldn't say - days, weeks, months, years, they all seemed the same, but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that when at last she awoke, she would find things changed.

**38: Wash  
><strong>It was so easy to wash away the blood, the dirt, the grime, so why wasn't it nearly as easy to rid herself of these feelings for the Nine Arts Dragon?

**39: Torn  
><strong>She had a duty to her clan, to the families, and she would do her best to stay true to that duty - a lifetime's worth of indoctrination was difficult to break - but at the same time, she'd find a way to save this man, to help him, from destroying himself.

**40: History  
><strong>Shi-woon asked him, one day, how he'd met her; Chunwoo had merely smiled - it'd be easy to give a pithy one-sentence answer, but how could that encapsulate the entirety of his frustrating, exhilarating, delightful history with Lee Shiho?

**41: Power  
><strong>Shiho knows why the elders want Chunwoo, why they need him, why he's so dangerous - it was part of what attracted her to him in the first place, so how could a man reputed to be so powerful have such sad eyes?

**42: Bother  
><strong>He didn't need the complication in his life; truly, the kind of woman who suited him best was sweet, unassuming and asked no questions - someone who wasn't part of his world, who didn't even know it existed, who didn't expect much of him - and yet he found the one woman who matched him best was the one who bothered him like none other, like an itch he just couldn't reach.

**43: God  
><strong>There are some who considered him a god, the one who'd rule the murim and remake it in his own image; Shiho didn't care about any of this - she just wanted to remain by his side now and forever.

**44: Wall  
><strong>Chunwoo's back is broad and strong, an impenetrable wall through which no attack could breach so it was no surprise that Shiho found his shadow the safest place of all.

**45: Naked  
><strong>Chunwoo had seen her naked more times than he could count, positive that every single one of those times had been intentional on her part, but no matter how many times, no matter the circumstance, the sight always took his breath away.

**46: Drive  
><strong>Shiho knew this drive of his, to bring about the downfall of the Martial Arts Alliance would consume him, but despite knowing it'd spell her own doom, she couldn't help but want to go along for the ride.

**47: Harm  
><strong>Chunwoo thought to protect her, to keep her safe from harm, but Shiho knew that of the two of them, he was the more fragile.

**48: Precious  
><strong>The slope of her neck, the curve of her smile, the way her hair fell over her shoulder - even if he could no longer speak her name, these memories he hoarded to himself after she was gone.

**49: Hunger  
><strong>It was ridiculous - she shouldn't want a man this much, she shouldn't have to work em_so hard/em_ to gain his attention, but she kept coming back for more and more.

**50: Believe  
><strong>Once upon a time, Chunwoo believed he and Shiho would meet again in another life; little did he expect they'd meet again in this one.


End file.
